(23) Peace be to the brethren . . .--In the conclusion of the Epistle, as at the beginning, St. Paul gives the double benediction, "Peace and grace be with you all." But it. is impossible not to notice the difference between the generality of the terms here used ("the brethren," and "all who love the Lord Jesus Christ") and the personal "you" of all the other Epistles--a difference which would be inexplicable if this Epistle were addressed to the well-known and loved Church of Ephesus alone.

Peace seems especially dwelt upon in the Epistles of the Captivity, of which the Epistle to Philippi contains (in Ephesians 4:7) the fullest description of the "peace of God which passeth all understanding." It is naturally connected here with love (as in 2Corinthians 13:11; Colossians 3:15-16)--a "love with faith," "making perfect" (as in Galatians 5:6) the faith which St. Paul takes for granted as being in them. For peace is first with God, in the thankful receiving of His mercy; from this naturally arises "love with faith" towards Him; and out of this, again, peace and love towards men, in the conviction that, "if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" (1John 4:11). All these are gifts from "God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Verses 23, 24. - CLOSING BENEDICTION. Verse 23. - Peace be to the brethren. There is a double invocation of blessing - to the brethren, and to all that love the Lord. "The brethren" must mean the members of the Church addressed, with special reference to the amalgamation in one body of Jews and Gentiles, or to the one family (Ephesians 3:15) in which they were brethren, Peace is the echo of Ephesians 1:2, and denotes the apostle's desire for the continuance among them of the peace with God to which they had been admitted, as well as the prevalence of peace in every sense of the word. And love with faith. "Love" in the widest sense (Ephesians 3:17, 19) - the love of Christ to them, their love to Christ, and their love to one another; and love is coupled with faith, because faith is the companion of love, they are in the closest relation to each other. Faith in Christ receives him as he is offered, in all his love and goodness; it sees his loving face, and is changed into the same image. From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (comp. Ephesians 1:2).

6:19-24 The gospel was a mystery till made known by Divine revelation; and it is the work of Christ's ministers to declare it. The best and most eminent ministers need the prayers of believers. Those particularly should be prayed for, who are exposed to great hardships and perils in their work. Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith. By peace, understand all manner of peace; peace with God, peace of conscience, peace among themselves. And the grace of the Spirit, producing faith and love, and every grace. These he desires for those in whom they were already begun. And all grace and blessings come to the saints from God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace, that is, the favour of God; and all good, spiritual and temporal, which is from it, is and shall be with all those who thus love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and with them only.Peace be to the brethren,.... The members of the church at Ephesus, who stood in a spiritual relation to each other; meaning all prosperity outward and inward, temporal, spiritual, and eternal; especially peace of conscience under the sprinklings of the blood of Christ, and a view of peace made with God by that blood:

and love with faith from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, an increase of these graces, and of the exercise of them, is wished for; for otherwise these brethren had both these graces, faith and love; see Ephesians 1:15; which go together; faith works by love, and love discovers faith, and both are imperfect; faith has something lacking in it, and love is apt to grow cold, and need reviving and increasing; and these, and the increase of them, are from God the Father, who is the God of all grace, and from Jesus Christ, in whom all fulness of grace is; and these things are equally desired from the one as from the other, and shows a plurality of persons in the Godhead, and the equality of Christ with the Father; and such a wish expresses the apostle's great love and affection for the brethren, and points out the things they stand in need of; and which, being asked for such, might be expected to be enjoyed.